Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've had mine for a month or so now; she seems well-settled in to her environment...but she's so fussy when it comes to food. She will take reptomin, TetraMin "Rich Mix" wafers, algae wafers, romaine...and that's it. She turns up her nose at apples, bananas, cooked shrimp, dandelion and earthworms. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

You should consider yourself lucky that you are getting that variety into her. They can be fussy and then before you know it their tastes change. Does she take food from your hand? If so try this. Hold back feeding her a day and then take a piece of apple (or try a grape even first) and hold that in the water BEFORE you feed anything else. See is she will go for it.
Also get some Java fern (water plant) and plant that in the tank or even let it free float. She may go after that. At least she is eating greens and the algae wafers and pellets. One thing -- if she is not a hatchling sized turtle you don't have to feed her every dat either. Every other should be sufficient and if you leave greens for her to browse on she will be fine.

Good luck and if you are persistant before you know it and when you least expect it she will start taking other types of food.

Steve

Thanks for your response!
I will head for the market on Saturday for grapes and apples with fingers crossed. She ate a goldfish the other day which surprized me; she has totally ignored the zebra danios I'd put in the tank as dithers.
She's very active, on the go almost constantly- is this normal behavor for this species? The ones I'd seen in England this summer stayed mostly on the bottom, surfacing only to breathe.
What about UVB lighting? And do they ever haul out to bask? I've read that they will float at the surface but I've never observed that behavior with mine.
Any information you can provide is sincerly appreciated.

1. Try spirulina wafers as well as the prior suggestions. They love them.

2. Put several inches of pool sand in one end of the tank. It sounds like the animal is swimming around looking for cover right now. These animals like to pull the softshell trick in terms of hiding under the sand for cover when they are young.

Good luck!

Chris

World Chelonian Trust